Respons on The Killing Joke

My strongest reaction towards this comic is the understanding and perhaps empathy towards Joker's character. I didn't know the humanity hidden behind Joker's smiling mask before reading this. I think the core of the story is about how the Joker wanted to recondition in the society. How an average man could turn to the dark side because of being mistreated by the reasons of the world, and perhaps by their own mistakes. The Joker thinks going crazy is the only way out to escape from his tragic past and to rebel against the unfairness of society. He desperately wants to prove that he isn’t the only one, that others could be the same as him if they have the “bad day”. However, he is alone. Bruce Wayne and James Gordon all had the “bad day” while the Joker is the only one who has lost his sanity. When the Joker commits the brutal crimes towards Gordon, I see a man who desperately wanted to be recognized instead of a crazy villain. But nobody in the story could understand him, or give him empathy. He could not get recognized in the past, and he still could not get recognized even after his crazy actions towards Gordon. This struck me and I felt a lot of pity towards him. When Bruce finally offers the Joker help, I really hope he could take it, but deep inside I know it is too late.

I can connect with the Joker’s past. For the Joker, he left a stable job to pursue something of his passion. This action is always risky, and for him, the worst happened. He did not receive acceptance and success in the society and is forced to walk dark route. His experience is one of the possibilities that could happen if someone wants to pursue true art. I am afraid to pursue something of my passion that  I could not make a living out of. The inability to fund for living and the denial from society happens to many great artists like Vincent Van Gogh. But perhaps, there is a way to achieve both money and passion. Perhaps doing a job for living while pursuing the passion at a free time, then move with the passion only when you developed an audience. I believe there could be a balance. It made me wonder what will happen if Joker stayed as a science assistant but pursue his entertainer dream at the same time.

If I was to adapt "The Killing Joke" into another medium, it will be music or film. 

If I adopt it into music, I will focus on the past vs present of the joker. Making a monologue of his life. The verse of the song could have slow and sad paced rhythm, minimum instruments (perhaps it could be a music box playing happy music), and narrative lyrics about the Joker’s past. Then, it could slowly get louder and faster to transition into the chorus. The chorus could be rock or heavy-metal to narrate his suppressed emotions that are being revealed in insanity. The whole song will be focused more on the Joker’s past and his inner feelings. Leaving out the narrative parts that are related to Gordon and Batman. 

For a film, I think I will exaggerate a lot on the camera works. I noticed that there are a lot of match cuts in the comic. If it's a movie, I could add more transitions alongside the match cuts. For instance parallel shots between his past and current story. For the changes in the plot, I want to change the story when the Joker’s wife died. After being captured by Batman in the chemical factory, the Joker could get notified that his wife was being saved by the doctors, and she is only mistaken as being dead. This could exaggerate the tragedy of Joker’s life. The fact that it is his wrong decision of committing crime what costed him to “lost” his wife. It could have more impact than his having wife being dead in the first place. This could be a great turning point for his character when he realizes he cannot go back to his normal life.

I think this story differs a lot from a typical superhero story because it focuses on the development of the antagonist rather than the protagonist himself. As typical expectations to superhero stories, we expect the villain to be bad and less relatable so that we won't feel bad when the hero defeats him. However, The Killing Joke focuses on making the antagonist a wonderful character. The Joker and Batman are like the two sides of humanity. They both been through tragedy, like what Joker said “The bad day”. But only one on them decides to have faith in the law, justice, and humanity, while the other rebels against all rules of the world, and seeks insanity as closure.